Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner told the Houston Chronicle that he has heard from several people that the state will choose former Dallas superintendent Mike Miles as the takeover superintendent to replace the elected local Board of Education.
This would be a punishment for the Houston Independent School District.
Mike Miles is a military man who trained at the Broad Academy. He is known for top-down leadership. He led the Harrison School District in Colorado Springs, Colorado, before coming to Dallas. He lasted three years in Dallas, from 2012 to 2015. During his tenure, he established a teacher evaluation system based on test scores. Teacher dissatisfaction soared during his tenure, and many teachers abandoned the district.
When Miles arrived, he set out numerical goals that the district was expected to reach. He expected everyone to share his vision.
After one year, Miles’ family returned to Colorado because of hostility to him.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Well, I hope he gets as warm a welcome as he did in Dallas. I’m guessing his family will choose to stay in Colorado.
Local media in Colorado reported that Miles shared a joint checking account with his wife from which a check for $800 was written to the campaign of Deborah Hendrix (school board).
Is it common to donate $800 to a school board candidate? Miles reportedly said years ago, that we are “losing our democracy by inches.” That’s an interesting observation when school choice denies voters/taxpayers the right to local democracy for their school administration.
Currently, Hendrix is Executive Director of an organization that advocates for school choice.
Btw- Miles ran for US Senator from Colorado in 2004.
Good morning, Diane, Head noun in third paragraph, first sentence, “Mike Mikes” should be “Mike Miles” I think. Please delete comment if so inclined–once again, I feel presumptuous editing you. Best, Mark
Mark, I love to be edited. It shows that someone cares. My cell phone kept replacing “Miles” with “Mike.”
Thanks Diane. I’m glad to know that, and thanks for saying so. It gives me a way to contribute something here.
So much to unpack from the school choice discussion in the N.C. House.
Republican Rep. McNeely who inherited his family’s feed milling company and who lives on land he claims King James gave his family in 1670, attended a public university. Yesterday, he attempted to disparage his Democratic colleague in the House, who is a Harvard law grad (a man who is Black) for allegedly getting preference in admission to the private Ivy League. (Both attended public high schools.)
McNeely advocates for vouchers and I infer his Black colleague views vouchers as discriminatory (discrimination’s methods explained by Diane in a prior post).
Last night, universal vouchers passed in the GOP southern state of North Carolina, no surprise.